#random hero who doesn’t know nightwing that well: how are you always so calm in every situation??

[everwalldigan]

(Bruce has been brainwashed. Again)

Tim: hey man, I think you got him

Dick, letting out all his pent up rage: YOU WANT WHAT HES HAVING??

Tim, backing away: nope

Dick: THATS WHAT I THOUGHT.

[bigskydreaming]

Okay, so you know “Justice League meets Batman’s kids, who they’d previously been unaware existed” AUs?

So picture that.....but this time, instead of them just having no knowledge of any of these other Gotham vigilantes at all....the Batkids all migrate to various cities as they get older and become known as their protectors - Dick in Bludhaven, Tim in San Francisco, Cass in Hong Kong, etc....

Meaning they’re all established figures, the Justice League are aware of them as solo local heroes who stick to their cities and so they just don’t interact with them much if at all, or else some are members of team lineups but are particularly vague about their histories or life outside of the team’s adventures....

So the big reveal isn’t that they become aware of all these other Gotham vigilantes all at once....its that some big conflict or whatever requires a huge team up of all available heroes, and in the aftermath, they figure out that like.....despite being known as solo heroes who work alone or loners outside of their team settings, 80% of these heroes all not only seem to already know each other, they seem to be related.

And so naturally they all turn to Batman, who has profiles on every known hero and they thus figure had researched these individuals too and just never mentioned this little detail, and they’re like, “Did you know about this?”

And then Nightwing turns to him too, arms crossed and is like, “Yeah Dad, did you know about this?”

And the infamous Red Hood is all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never met any of these people before in my life. Lives? Whatever.”

And then Red Robin moodily grates out “I have no siblings.” Since he’s nursing a grudge since Dick and Jason broke into his apartment the night before and replaced all his custom Red Robin gear with Darkwing Duck merchandise and his vengeance will be swift and also totally disproportionate because things escalate quickly in this family, that’s true in every universe.

Cass meanwhile has deftly skewered Jason’s lie by walking over to him and brazenly patting down the man with many many guns with no fear whatsoever. He squawks and futilely attempts to bat her hands away as she riffles through his many pockets, but he doesn’t seem shocked, just annoyed. Eventually, she pulls away and triumphantly reveals a box of Hello Kitty themed band-aids.

“So these are yours then? Just for you?” Black Bat asks smugly. Red Hood squints at the box.

“What the fuck? How long have those been in my jacket? Why are those in my jacket? Did you freaking plant them in my jacket just on the offchance you could at some point in the distant future use them at my expense?”

Black Bat frowns, puzzled. “Yes?”

“Oh come on, Dead Hood,” Spoiler says with an exaggerated toss of her head meant to convey she’s rolling her eyes beneath her own mask. She skips her way across the room to Black Bat and then drapes herself languidly all over the smaller woman. Who in turn doesn’t so much as twitch beneath the sudden added mass as Spoiler holds out her hand towards the box of band-aids. 

“One please. I have a boo-boo,” she says with easy familiarity straight into the intimidating cowl of Black Bat. Only then does she deign to finish her train of thought with Red Hood.

“I mean seriously, are you saying you don’t have potential blackmail set-ups, pre-rigged releases of incriminating material, and a random assortment of traps, pratfalls and mortifying scenarios in place for the express purpose of being able to humiliate any and all of your siblings at any given moment, without any need for additional prep time?”

“Is this true, Little Wing?” Nightwing whirls on the larger Red Hood with a faux-scandalized gasp. The founder and leader of the Titans, formerly the Teen Titans, renowned for his stratagems and calm competence when directing squads of supers in the heat of battle while he keeps pace with nothing more than naturally acquired acrobatics and a utility belt that apparently uses the same technology as Wonder Woman’s invisible jet....now appears to be....staggering with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead, moaning about how he felt....faint? 

What is happening right now, several dozen superheroes want to know. Is this a drill? Are they supposed to be checking for signs of a mental ambush from undetected psychic saboteurs? Did they all hit their heads at the exact same time and are now experiencing some kind of shared mass concussion?

Look, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen on the Watchtower. 

“Have I failed you so utterly?” The veteran child hero bemoans with a dramatic twirl - that when contrasted with his stern demeanor of a mere ten minutes ago - makes the fears of telepathic infiltration seem less paranoia and more....concerningly probable. “Did you learn nothing from me? Did you learn nothing from B?”

He stops and jabs a finger up at the sky. “Quick, everyone! What is the very first rule of Living While Batty?”

As if by rote, over a half a dozen voices chime in from all over the room, causing various heroes to jump. Spooked by yet more and more vigilantes joining in some kind of mass recitation like they and they alone have some kind of clue what the hell is going on and everyone else just hadn’t been invited to the party. Which is just rude, honestly. Nobody likes feeling like they weren’t invited to the party. Not even superheroes. 

“If you’re not going to bother preparing for every possible contingency and at least six impossible ones, you might as well just stay in bed.”

Even the Red Hood joins in the Illuminati chant or Cub Scout pledge or demonic ritual or whatever the fuck that just was, though his slumped and exasperated posture gives away every hint of sulkiness his headgear otherwise would have kept safely hidden. He’s surprisingly more...expressive, than most who’d only known of him by reputation had expected him to be. The day continues to yield surprises.

“Of fucking course I do,” he growls out, snatching the box from Black Bat. She doesn’t even fight to hold onto it, just lets it go with a knowing smirk. “I wasn’t surprised by the idea of it, I was just surprised she bothered with such a weak effort. Like yeah whatever, actually those could be mine. I use those all the time at home. So what?”

He aggressively yanks one of the band-aids out of the box, fumbles with the peel-off strips with one hand and he roughly rolls up the sleeve of his jacket with the other. Then just slaps it on his forearm and raises said appendage high, showing it off this way and that. “See?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Signal drawls from the other side of the room, nodding his head approvingly. “Totally convincing. Nice job walking that one back, you really showed them.”

Red Hood’s head snaps in his direction with ominous intent. “Watch it, Day-Glo.”

Signal just snorts.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna take constructive criticism on my name and costume from a dude who’s spent the last several years calling himself Red HOOD while running around in a freaking HELMET.”

“Its not meant to be literal, you fucking pedant.”

“So wait, its not literally a helmet? Huh, does it at least protect your head literally, or just like...symbolically? Like if Bane were to clock you across the head, would your concussion just be a metaphor? What’s the treatment protocol for a metaphorical concussion? Fluids, bedrest and a philosophical prescription of two chapters of Chicken Soup for the Soul as needed?”

“Laugh it up, KC and the Sunshine Band,” Red Hood bats back. “You just got yourself disinvited from Thursday night’s poker game.”

Signal just grins and folds his arms over his chest cockily. “Please. You’ve been looking for an excuse to ban me for weeks, cuz you know until you can prove I’m using my ghost vision to cheat, you can’t actually bring suit against me for it in Family Court.”

“That, and also Family Court isn’t a real thing, you toddler. Stop validating Wing-a-ding-ding’s obsession with Shitty TV Nostalgia and just call it that thing where Oracle traps us all in a room until we settle our latest fight without anyone getting stabbed.”

“Yeah, but like, say that five times fast,” Spoiler pipes up. “Its just not practical. Family Court’s way easier.”

“Says the one who’s not even in our fucking family.”

“And yet I grace you all with my sublime presence anyway,” she blows a kiss at him, beatifically unbothered. “You’re welcome.”

The Red Hood scoffs and rounds on his heel, zeroing in on Batwoman in the far corner.

“Hey Auntie B, my siblings are all dead to me and I just helped stop an alien invasion so I deserve nice things like a fun Saturday night. Can you get me into Dad’s fundraiser so I can crash it? He won’t put me back on the list until I promise not to bring any C-4 with me and I won’t promise not to bring any C-4 because he should just trust me that I won’t when I say I’m not gonna and he won’t trust me that I won’t until I admit I shouldn’t have brought any to that sting last month where three tiny little yachts blew up through barely any fault of my own, and I’m just not gonna do that ever because I have convictions and I feel I shouldn’t have to be punished for that. Y’know?”

Batwoman blinks at him. “Kid, I’m not gonna lie to you. You’re my nephew and I love you, but I stopped listening three seconds into all that.”

“Ugh, fine. Can you help me crash Dad’s event tonight so I can teach him a lesson about why he should just trust me not to make a scene so I don’t have to always make a scene to make a point.”

“Tempting as you make that sound,” she says wryly, “I have a strict policy for dealing with you lot and your......everything. I only worry about tolerating one of you at a time, and there’s seven of you, and seven days in the week. You each get your own. You know perfectly well its Robin’s day today. You get me on Tuesday, just like always.”

“Auntie B, we’re not like other families, are we?” Red Robin’s delivery is sarcastically childish and his question clearly rhetorical. Most of his attention is fixated on whatever it is he’s doing with his wrist-mounted computer. 

“No sweetie, we’re all severely fucked in the head and a little bit too comfortable with that.”

“Just checking. Oh hey, Hood, I just emailed you a patch for the hole in your firewall I exploited when replacing all my shit using your accounts just now.”

“You did what?”

“Used your accounts to pay to replace all my stuff that you fucked with last night?” Red Robin says slowly. “Did you not realize that I’ve been sticking within ten feet of you for the past five minutes just so I could clone your devices and do all that while BB and Spoiler kept you distracted? I gotta say, bro, I feel like that’s on you then.”

Red Hood swivels his helmeted head in the direction of the aforementioned two. Black Bat waves. Spoiler shoots him an utterly unrepentant thumbs up.

“You’d side with your ex over me? That’s what its come to?”

“My only allegiance is to chaos,” Spoiler says brightly. Black Bat shrugs.

“Plus he bribes better.”

“Hateful,” Red Hood points at Black Bat, moving on to level the same finger at Spoiler, who curtsies in acknowledgment: “Hateful-er.”

Then the finger rounds the bases to aim judgmentally at Red Robin. “Hateful-est. And that was all Nightwing’s idea anyway, not mine.”

“Oh, I assumed as much,” he says casually. “Your idea of a prank tends to have more of a Carrie vibe. Or be a literal literary reenactment.”

“Its called an homage, 4chan.”

“Whatever, plagiarist. And anyway, I couldn’t go after ‘Wing for payback on this one. He used an Immunity card. If you didn’t want me getting back at you, you should have used one too."

Red Hood looms aggressively. Red Robin ignores willfully. Round and round they go. Superheroes who can survive excessive G-Forces are getting dizzy just watching them have a largely motionless stand-off. That shouldn’t be how that works, but whatever. All the most infamously reclusive and isolated heroes in all hero-dom are apparently part of the same one big reclusive and isolated family of fucked up weirdos and they’re all officially bonkers. Nothing makes sense anymore. Reality broke. Try another stall.

“Okay, but see, in order to have an Immunity card, I would have to participate in one of you losers’ stupid Immunity challenges,” the Red Hood drags out with exaggerated patience. “And I’m just not going to do that, on account of those all being fucking stupid. You see the problem there?”

Red Robin just shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. You can have principles or you can have an Immunity card. You can’t have both.”

Meanwhile, on another side of....the same room.....look, its like, an octagonal room, probably. It has a lot of sides. Robin fends off questions from an aggrieved looking Superboy.

“You never told me you had a bajillion brothers and sisters!”

“Yes but I never said I didn’t either.”

Superboy rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, so I should just assume everyone I meet has a bajillion secret brothers and sisters?”

“Well clearly it would have worked out in your favor in this instance if you had, now wouldn’t it?”

“Assuming of course that you can trust what has been said or implied here today and I am actually related to any of those numbskulls. Which I am not actually admitting to,” Robin tacks on hastily.

Superboy eyes him dubiously. “You joined in the same creepy chant all the others did and then got super self-conscious and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Which uh. I did.”

“First off, your interpretation of body language is abyssmal. I do not get self-conscious,” Robin says with a delivery that probably could have benefited from being a little less self-conscious. “And second....that proves nothing. I guessed what they were going to say.”

“Word for word,” Superboy says super-skeptically.

“I’m very good at guessing things. You know this.”

“Okay. Guess how much I believe you right now then.”

Robin glares and folds his arms grumpily across his chest. 

“And what was that anyway? Was that like....you guys’ family motto or something like that?”

“Oh no,” Spoiler pipes up. “That’s much shorter.”

Superboy balks at that. “Wait, you guys actually have one of those for real?”

“Yup,” Steph says, counting out the words with her fingers. “He who laughs last....probably works for the Joker. So tranq him just to be safe. See? Only sixteen words. The first rule of Living While Batty is way longer, and what we said was just the abridged version. You should hear the original, before Black Bat put her foot down and refused to memorize it unless sizable edits were made.”

Superboy hovers between her and Robin now, both in mid-air and on the verge of taking Spoiler’s words as an invitation to hear just that. A low growl arises from Robin’s direction.

“Must you?” He asks the older vigilante, with a most put upon expression.

She looks at him pityingly. “Do you actually need me to answer that? Like, we’ve met, right? Hi, I’m Spoiler.”

“Wait, so Robin said that I just never specifically asked him if he had a bajillion brothers and sisters, and that’s why he didn’t tell me, so that means he wouldn’t have just lied and there’s not some code of secrecy that flat out forbids telling other people stuff, right?” Superboy realizes excitedly.

“Yes, excellent direction. Go on,” Spoiler says, steepling her fingers. Robin buries his face in the palm of one hand.

“Soooo, what other stuff could you tell me about Robin’s super top secret family that I wouldn’t think to ask about but that he would tell me about if I knew what questions to ask?”

She claps once, lightly but with emphasis. “Well done. You’ve passed the first barrier. Untold secrets await you behind just a few more.”

“I’ll get you for this,” Robin vows calmly. She waves a hand at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you do it before January 1st, remember? You’ve promised retribution like ten times already this year and those don’t roll over, y’know. Rules are rules.”

“Enough!” Thunders a voice then, from the front of the room. Well one of the fronts anyway. Like sides, it has a lot of them, but this is the one where Batman’s standing. All eyes snap to him. Which is kinda just what eyes do when Batman says stuff like that. Its like his superpower, except he doesn’t actually have superpowers, which is what makes it scary. But where the snapping of the eyes (directional) is usually followed by Batman saying something else besides just “hey look at me,” here he pauses in the wake of his own call to attention’s waning reverberations. Uncharacteristically silent.

Not that, y’know, he’s normally Mr. Talkity Talk, but usually his silences feel like he has the words to fill them, he’s just withholding them. This though, this feels more like he doesn’t have any words at all. And he’s as confused by it as any of them, and most everyone else is confused by Batman being confused, and its this whole trickle down economy of confusion and its wrecking havoc on the value of the golden silence standard.

Of course, not everyone present is rendered spellbound with confusion.

“C’mon B,” Nightwing cajoles, leaning forward and practically radiating delight. “I think you know what you have to do now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Its not likely to come around again.”

Red Hood snickers beneath his helmet and chimes in. “Yeah Pops, go ahead. You do this and you’ll actually have my respect for a whole twenty four hours. No, wait. Sixteen. No! Eight. Yeah, eight. Still a good deal.”

“Carpe diem, B,” Red Robin grins, leaning back as if to enjoy the show.

“Hey! Infringe on my trademark one more time, dude,” Signal throws a faux-glare at the former. Red Robin just quirks an eyebrow.

“And what, you’ll start saying Yum every time you eat a burger? Oh no. I’m hoist by my own petard.”

Signal flips him off with a grin and then redirects his attention back to Batman. “Yeah seriously though B, you kinda gotta do it now. Because if you don’t do it, then you’ll forever be the guy who didn’t do it, and you don’t want to be that guy, do you?”

“Yeah you really don’t want to be that guy,” Spoiler shouts out. “Nobody likes that guy. He’s the worst.”

“Do it, do it,” Black Bat starts chanting beside her, steadily picking up speed and volume. Several others start joining in. Even Robin appears to be slightly anticipatory, albeit trying very hard to hide it.

Batman sighs, and somehow everyone manages to hear it. Stills. Waits for....something? Nobody but them seems to have any clue what, but the air is thick and heavy with portentiousness. Something is about to happen, and all most of the heroes present could say for sure is it was something they never would have in a million years seen coming.

Finally, Batman straightens with the resigned air of a man about to have oh so many regrets. He crosses his arms, shakes his head, and in an absolute deadpan monotone, says:

“You are awful children. You know you’re killing me. You’re killing your father.”

[kimberly-spirits13]

Moroccan Outlaw

Pairing (Bart Allen x reader)

Synopsis: Living in the wilderness of Morocco by yourself after your parents were killed for witch craft, you fight to survive with everything that you have learned of magic and the myth that now surrounds your name. You think that your life will never change of this endless cycle until one day, a certain team comes to your dwelling to investigate strange news of something powerful lurking in the forest. That is when your life changes forever.

Warnings: None

     You had never considered yourself a threat to anyone or anything that wasn’t a threat to you. You nor your parents had ever meant anyone any harm, however the world is a cruel one and doesn’t take lightly to things that it does not understand or take the time to adapt to. At the age of 7, your parents were taken and burned after being found out they were practitioners of witchcraft and magic. They had both come from a long line of magic users and taught you everything that they knew, including the combat that your father had picked up while serving in the army during his time. The only thing that you had of them now was a few books of magic, a few charms, and faint memories that haunted your dreams at night.

           The town considered you a myth, a legend, and even an outlaw. At just the age of 8, you had learned what it took to survive in these rare conditions and kept to yourself, avoiding people at almost all costs. Tonight, was a full moon. This was the most significant time of the lunar phases because it was when the most powerful book of spells that your parents had left you gained even more spells and charms to use. You had opted to stay in your house and practice the spells that you would be gifted. Well, if it could even be considered a house. The place that you lived was like a three- story tree house over a wide stream. It was in a smaller clearing but still high enough up that no passerby would see it. There you and your panther, Onyx would live out your lives.

           It was a normal day waiting for the spells and nothing in the world was happening to your knowledge outside of the usual mess of things. Well, at least that it what you thought.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Team, there has been a sudden disturbance in a sector of the forests of Morocco. It is thought to be magic with the level of power and magnitude that it emitted, however we cannot know for sure.” Nightwing informed the team, “We need to find out who or what this is and see who’s side it’s on.”

           The only ones who weren’t on a mission right now was Nightwing, Blue Beatle, Impulse, Beast Boy, and Robin. Everyone else was either off or on mission assigned earlier. They got into the ship and headed off to Morocco to investigate whatever was going on.

_______________________________________________________________________

           You settled in on your cot next to Onyx and watched as the sun started to set. Everything was going as planned. You had your herbal tea next to you and your spell book in your lap just like all the nights before. Everything was calm and peaceful until the magic sensors that you had put around your dwelling picked on a low flying craft. Onyx’s ears pricked up as you listened closely.

           Hearing it get closer and then the sound stopping made you go on high alert. You walked to your table and summoned a looking spell to see what on Earth was going on. You saw nothing at first, but upon further investigation, you found that the ship was shielded with invisibility tech.

           “Interesting.” You thought, “Tell me who these people are.” You said after seeing a few figured jumping out.

           “Heroes?” You thought aloud, “I wonder what they’re doing here.” “Onyx, it’s time to go for a hunt.”

           Onyx’s ears pricked up and he stood, walking to your side. Sliding on your combat boots and gloves, you stepped out of the shelter and traveled by the trees to where the ship was, not too far away. You observed them from a distance, sticking to the shadows and staying out of site along with your panther who was circling the group.

           “Nightwing, I feel like we’re being watched.” The smaller one with a cape and jet -black hair said to who looked to be the oldest.

           “I know what you mean.” Nightwing replied, “Just keep your guard up and...” He stopped dead in his tracks, “Impulse, don’t move a muscle.”

           Everyone started at Impulse as he stopped, noticeably frightened at Nightwing’s command. They looked around until seeing a massive black cat staring at them from a small clearing like it was about to pounce. Then they all saw what Nightwing really was pointing out. A snake was coiled up in front of Impulse waiting for him to take a step closer. All of them were startled when you spoke up.

           “Down Onyx.” You said in Arabic.

           The panther went into a resting stance and didn’t pounce at the team but you on the other hand came into few after a few seconds of moving in the shadows.

           You then stared at the snake, eyes gleaming red before it contracted and looked straight at her hissing. After a second it had been ripped apart and withered away with the wind.

           “You know you really should be more careful hero.” Your magic swirled from your fingers before disappearing once more, “The floor of these jungles move with life.”

           You jumped down to the ground, leaning on a massive boulder, “Who are you? Quickly, before I have Onyx sick you.”

           “We’re part of the Justice League.” The leader with a blue and black suit and domino mask said, “I’m Nightwing, this is Robin, Impulse, Blue Beatle, and Beast Boy.”

           “What is your business?” You demanded.

           “We are here to investigate a surge of energy. Now I can assume that you were that energy surge. We’re here to take you somewhere where you’ll be safer and away from all of this.” He finished.

           You smirked some at how hopeful he sounded. That was something that you had learned not to trust over the years. Hope was a delusion and something to pity for all who really relied on it.

           “I’ll come. But only if you can catch me.” You smirked, lifting your index finger which started swirling with glittering red and purple smoke before your body was completely engulfed in it and you reappeared in the tree tops.

           “Base.” You said to Onyx before starting off away from where the team was.

           “Catch her.” Nightwing said as they all started to go after her in preassigned teams.

           After some time of losing the team, you stopped on a branch and rested for a second.

           “Watcha doin up there?” You heard from below. You smiled some when you saw Impulse.

           “Becoming quite bored of this endeavor.” You said.

           “Well then, allow me to entertain you malady.” He darted up the tree fast enough to not give you time to react, “Gotcha.” He smirked grabbing you.

           “Please, can’t a girl play hard to get?” You said before disappearing once more, “Over here lover boy.” You waved from a different tree.

           “Impulse, Y/N is a witch, take her to the starting point and we’ll give her a dose of some white light.” Nightwing said into the comm before Impulse was about to take off after her again.

           “Got it wing.” He replied.

           Impulse chased you to the starting point before you noticed what was happening. You went to turn around before Blue Beetle shot a beam of white light at you. With somewhat of a mix of a screech and scream, you fell off the branch that you were on and plummeted to the forest floor.

           “I got her!” Impulse said going for you.

           After a few seconds, you regained your senses and looked around before meeting his gaze. Rubbing your temples you spoke up, “Thank you.” You got out of his arms and brushed yourself off.

           “No problem beautiful.” He said smiling at you as he got a good look at your figure.

           Your skin glimmered in the moon light, contrasting against the dark red and black costume. Your now purple and gold eyes shinned in the moon light as you swept your hair out of your face.

           “I don’t even know you name.” You said feeling weird that this random costumed person would just chase you down only to save you.

           “Oh, I’m Bart, Bart Allen. That is presuming you’re coming with us.” He said.

           “Y/N, Y/L/N.” You replied putting your hand out for what you thought would be shaking hands. Instead he took yours and kissed the top of it like he was trying to either be a gentleman or funny. You couldn’t decide which one it was.

           “So, you’re coming with us?” Nightwing asked.

           “Yes, well, that is as long as I can grab my panther and my books.” You said, “Trust me, it won’t be long.”

           He nodded and you chanted a spell before the entire contents of your home was in a small box and your panther walked up next to you. He wasn’t that big and would never get that big which is why your parents wanted you to have him.

           You sat next to Impulse and watched the forest fade out of view. Your home was now a tiny speck in the great big world, and you figured that you’d never see it again whether you wanted to or not.

           “Have you ever been outside of your home?” Impulse asked you noticing the weary look on your face.

           You shook your head, “Never.” “My parents always hid me away in fear that I would also be... well, executed with them if we were ever caught with magic.”

           “I’m sorry.” He said giving a sympathetic look at taking your hand, “You’ll like it at the cave, trust me.”

           “I’m sure I will.” You said as Onyx laid his head on your lap.

______________________________________________________________________________

           *Narrator voice* A few months later

           “Hey babe.” Bart said kissing your cheek.

           “You missed Speedster.” You said before he pulled you into an actual kiss.

           “Watcha reading?” He asked laying his head on your shoulder.

           “Spell book, tonight’s a full moon so it got new spells a few minutes ago.” You answered.

           “Could we cuddle?” He asked you.

           “Will you still let me read?” You asked.

           “Mhmm.” He answered.

           “Okay.” You picked up your book and the both of you walked to your bedroom with Onyx who was tailing you.

           The both of you curled up on your bed while Onyx jumped to the foot of it and laid down. Wrapping into the blankets, Bart laid his head on your thy and rubbed circles on your hips.

           “I love you.” You said.

           “I love you too Y/N/N.”

[mosaicabstract]

Has anyone answered yet? I love the robins. I especially love Damian. He's such a brat. I adore him being obnoxious while the other Robins try to ignore him. Also that he like him well enough if he would stop being the son of Batman and the son of Talia Al Ghul and the Grandchild of R'ah... so many different reasons to be a bit entitled. But all Batfam is awesome. Batman being himself is amazing too.

(ok, so this is going to be kind of weird, but here’s the thing. i’ve been sitting on this massive unfinished batfam fic for over a year and i’m never going to finish it so instead of writing a new drabble... i’m just gonna post it here. it’s much longer than a drabble and not finished and could either be shippy in the sense of jaydick or seen as just brotherly bonding but there’s some damien and tim in there as well at the end. let me know if you want another drabble and i’ll write you one!!! i just figured that i’m never gonna finish this thing but i like it, so i might as well let it see the light of day....)

*

Despite the shitty lighting from the single, dying securitylamp at the mouth of the alleyway, Jason knows it’s him. There’s no possibleway to mistake him: the long, sinewy arms, the straight line of his spine, hisimpeccable posture… the “OG” boy wonder himself. He can’t even see the brightblue bird strapped across his chest but he knows it’s there. He doesn’t evenknow how acrobat boy got there; probably some death defying shit, but hedoesn’t have time for this.

Putting out his cigarette and sliding his helmet back on, hewatches as Dick slinks stealthily along the dark alleyway, silent but visible, which is his first mistake.

Did Daddy teach younothing, Dickieboy? Bruce always drilled it into Jason that it was betterto be heard rather than seen. Sound can be distorted. Sight is vulnerability.And here he is, sitting on the roof of a modestly high-roofed bank, watchingthe asshole he used to quietly idolize, his brother of circumstance, crownjewel of their fucked-up little family, make an idiot out of himself in anattempt to stop the hostage situation currently happening right underneathJason’s ass in the bank below.

What pisses him off the most is that he has this under control. Yes it’s technically closer to Blüdhaventhan to Gotham Proper, but on the outskirts. Maybe technically Nightwing’s territory, yes, but Jason got here first, and some childish part of himthinks that’s good enough reason for him to handle this solo.

He’s in the middle of his own variety of trying to fix thesituation: stay on top of things (literally), watch, and wait for the perfectopportunity to shoot off a couple of rounds through the slightly openedskylight beside him into the base of these motherfuckers’ skulls. He has aperfect view of the bank through the propped-up skylight cover, and all three perps,but the time hasn’t been right yet. They’re too busy flirting with the cops,jeering threats from behind ski masks. Besides which, they’re too antsy. He cansee the way they shift around, nervously looking at all of the exits, waitingfor something (or someone, likely with a cape) to jump out and foil theirscheme. They haven’t gotten comfortableyet.

The second any ofthe prickless pieces of shit holed up below him set eyes on a masked vigilanteof any sort (let alone a pretty boy in a leotard), they’ll blow the brains outof the three hostages they currently hands on with guns to their heads. They’vethreatened as much to the police, at least, and maybe they don’t have the ballsto actually do it, but Jason knows that people like himself exist in the world,people who pull the trigger first and find time for guilt later. And there’s always time for guilt.

Dick pauses in front of the back entryway to the bank, mutteringinto his wrist comm too quietly to be heard. Jason assumes he’s calling home toBabs, trying to get an update on the situation or a shred of information thatwill help him carry out his mission.

Jason lifts his pointer and middle finger and his thumb, forminga hand-gun which he aims carefully down at the dark form below him.

“Boom,” he whispers, pulling the imaginary trigger, thinkingof just how easy it would be forsomeone even half as good a shot as him, at his same angle, to splatter Dick’sgenius brains all over the grimy brick and asphalt. Clearly, regardless of allthe bullshit he’s seen in the world, Dick Grayson is far too trusting ofhumanity. Of circumstance. Taking down the bad guys is what Dick lives for,helping people out, but he’d never expect something so random and brutal tohappen as someone watching him, stalking him, taking him out when he’svulnerable.

But that wouldn’t do, would it? Jason imagines that any painBruce felt after he died, he wouldfeel it tenfold more if his precious Richard were to snuff it. But Bruce’sreaction isn’t the one that gnaws at him, makes him shutter. Tim would likelymalfunction like a glitched operating system and implode if his hero were todie. Babs would wreak havoc on the world at large. And then there’s the little shitheadheir apparent. Jason finds it hilarious hearing stories about how Damian usedto despite and mock Dick to no end when now he would likely burn down the worlddefending Dick’s honor, possibly even over his own father’s.

Dick has that effect on people. Always has. Jason, back whenhe still donned the campy ol’ red, yellow and greens, had harbored a borderlineobsessive crush on the older boy, even if he’d only catch glimpses of him.Dick, always a gentleman to strangers (nice strangers that weren’t trying tokill him), had regarded him with a sort of hesitant kindness that Jason didn’tfully understand until Jason saw Tim in costume the first time. The feeling ofbeing replaced cut deep, even if deep down he knows now that he couldn’t haveasked for a better protégé to pass the torch to. He likes Timmy. Knows he’s a good kid. Knows that Dick probably neverfelt that sort of acceptance and appreciation about him as Robin, but he can’tblame him. Tim’s as noble as Dick. Jason’s always been the unstable fuse in thecircuit.

For a while, things seem to calm down from a boil to asimmer, the hostages huddled back in the corner of the bank behind the welcomedesk silent with the robbers staying spread out, sometimes shouting commandsout to one another. One of them shuffles back toward the vault in the back, outof Jason’s sight, and he curses. He glances back down at Dick, and at the samemoment he does, the emergency light goes out with a purposeful buzz.

Now all he can see is the dark, sinister outline ofNightwing traced against the shadowy brick and it sends a thrill down hisspine.

“Jay,” Dick greets darkly.

“Dickhead,” Jason retorts, smirking and leaning forward,“fancy seeing you here.”

“Lay off. This one’s mine.”

“I got here first.”

“Don’t be so childish.”

“I’m not the one in tights.”

He can sense Dick’s scowl rather than see it, and it makeshim laugh.

“Chill out, Grayson. I’ve got this. I have eyes on two ofthem and I know the location of the third… it’ll be as easy as skipping rockswhen the time comes.”

“Sorry Jason,” Dick responds, moving even further into theshadows and out of Jason’s field of vision. “You know I can’t let you do that.”

Jason can’t help but roll his eyes, tugging off his mask sohe can fully glower down into the darkness in hopes that Dick can see howunamused he is.

“Not gonna happen, bird brains. Not interested in fightingyou tonight when three teenage girls have guns to their heads right now andnineteen more hostages are crammed in a corner, waiting to die. I’m gonna dealwith this how it’s supposed to bedealt with.”

“It can be dealtwith,” Dick says in the dangerous voice he usually only reserves for Bruce whenthey’re on bad terms, “in a way that doesn’t involve murder.”

Jason laughs, maybe a bit louder than he intends to, but itforces its way up out of his esophagus like a mocking tune. “This is why we’llnever see eye to eye. You’re too much like him,Dickiebird. Too righteous. Too ‘moral’. Maybe I’ll of let these cocksuckerswalk away with shattered tibias and blunt force trauma if, and only if, theydon’t put a bullet into any of those little girls, or the other hostages. Ifthey do, they’re dead. And you can’t stop me.”

Dick stays silent for a long moment and Jason imagines himwith that look of righteous fury etched onto his pretty face that he used tolong to wear himself but could never quite get it right.

Before Dick can respond, however, Jason can hear the heavysound of gunfire. It shakes the foundation of the building and makes his earsring. With a practiced instinct, he stands and yanks his handguns out of hisbelt in one motion, both pointer fingers resting on triggers. Out of the cornerof his eye he sees a flash of neon blue from below as Dick finally makes a moveto kick down the back door. At the same moment, on top of another chorus ofgunfire, he hears a cop out front yell into a radio:

“No hostages dead, just injured! They just shot at a copbecause he got too close! Hold your fire, goddammit!”

Shit.

The thoughts move through Jason’s mind at the speed of soundas he flies into action. His thought process is as follows:

1.      He and Bruce have their issues, this much istrue, but he doesn’t hate him enough to allow him to experience the pain oflosing another kid. Another robin. Heseemed pretty broken up about him after the Joker blew him up, or so he’sheard, and Jason can’t fathom what his reaction would be if his precious Dickwas killed. Possibly apocalyptic.

2.      As much as he thinks Dick is a cocky, pompous,over-optimistic fuckhead sometimes who’s too kind for his own good as a masked hero,he doesn’t deserve to die.

3.      If Dick does,in fact, end up six feet under because of this little mishap, Jason’s going tomake sure to pump lead into whoever’s responsible. He won’t go unavenged. Notlike Jason did.

In the same second that Dick launches himself through theback door, Jason kicks the latch of the skylight fully open and shatters theglass with his boot, jumping down into the chaos below.

He lands with practice, bouncing off his heels and rollinginto a kneeling position with guns out. Quickly, he assesses what he sees infront of him.

The three perps are spread evenly in a triangular fashionthroughout the store. The first is standing near the front glass swinging doorswith his hostage carefully positioned to be in view of the police with a gun toher head. The second’s back near the teller booths, hostage sitting in a chairin front of them. The third is back near the vault against the wall, his ownhostage seemingly handcuffed to him. He assigns them names in his head: FuckerA, Fucker B, and Fucker C.

Dick’s coming in from the back, closest to Fucker B.

What happens next happens fast.

Jason gets eyes on the robber nearest to him, Fucker A, a builtman with combat boots and tattoos covering his pale arms. He rages like a bullwhen he sees Nightwing and charges, hostage still under his arm, but Jason getsa bullet in his head before he has time to harm her or Dick. After making surethe hostage crawls to safety with the others, out of the corner of his eye,Jason sees Dick pivot to look at him in a fluid motion that he imagines wouldlook like shock on anyone else. But all he sees is a grimace.

“Hood, what the hell are you-”

Jason sees Fucker B fling his hostage aside and pull thetrigger before he can swing his own gun on him, and it’s followed by thedisgusting sound of flesh ripping and bone snapping. Dick’s left shoulder jerksback and the rest of his body goes with it in one fluid motion. He doesn’t godown right away, but manages to take a few steps over to a pillar for support.Jason shoves this information temporarily to the back of his mind, ignoring theanger threatening to force its way out of his chest and into his throat likebile. With gusto, he turns one of his guns on Fucker B, seeing a glimmer offear flash across his shiny eyes from behind the mask before he squeezes thetrigger, watching as his bullet lodges itself in his skull right between hiseyes. With hard eyes, he turns toward the Fucker C, who’s backed up against thewall with his own hostage.

“Don’t fucking move,” Fucker C says from under his mask,reaching behind himself and retrieving a small black device with a shaky hand.“One funny move and I blow this fuckingplace straight to hell!”

It’s rigged to blow. Whyis it always rigged? Jason’s eyes dark back to the slightly askew vaultdoor behind C, imagining that the explosives have likely been set up in there. Somethingakin to panic nags at the back of his mind – some post-traumatic bullshit maybe,sometimes his constant and forceful repression doesn’t always hold up – but heignores it and instead turns to look at the crumpled figure of Dick Graysonslumped against a pillar, a hand pressed to the gushing wound in his claviclearea.

“I won’t touch you,” Jason grunts at him, tossing down hisguns. “Just let me go make sure this idiot isn’t dying.”

“You think I give a shit about your friend dying, man? Youjust killed my brothers!”

Jason glowers at the little shit and looks down at the twocorpses he just made.

“Listen, I get it. ‘Desperate times call for desperatemeasures’. But these hostages? Children? Really,dude?”

“Just… don’t…fucking move.”

Fucker C’s voice cracks and Jason sighs, trying to gaugejust how young he could be. Seventeen, eighteen… poor kid. Maybe he was evenforced into doing this by his brothers, told to stay put in the back with thebomb trigger in case worst came to worst. And now they’re lying on the floormotionless, and it appears that worst has indeed come to worst.

Jason holds up his hands, palms forward.

“Listen, what would you rather? Me walking ten steps in thatdirection to help him stop bleeding, or all of us dying? Because let me tell you, buddy… getting blown upis not an ideal way to go.” Not that I’d know any other ways, butgetting blown up wasn’t exactly pleasant. Or painless. Or quiet.

Fucker C seems to contemplate his offer, falling intosilence and staring over at where Dick is starting to slump forward. He shrugs;a quick, twitchy movement of his shoulder.

“Fine. But put all your weapons on the floor. Now.”

“Already did, kid.”

“All of them.”

Smartass. Jasonpulls the taser out of his jacket and the blade out of its ankle strap andtosses them both on the ground before putting his hands back in the air andmaking his way over to Dick, slowly. The last few steps turn into a sprint ashe slides down beside him, gritting his teeth.

“Dammit, Grayson,” he snarls quietly. “Why couldn’t you havejust left this one for me?”

Dick’s eyes shoot up to look at him like two blue flares,slightly hooded and out of focus.

“Didn’t know you were gonna be here,” he grits out. “But Iwould’ve still come if I did…”

Jason sees Dick look past him at the two bodies on theground and rolls his eyes. Typical Grayson, trying to claim the moral highground even in a situation like this.

“Whatever.” Jason pulls Dick’s hand away from the entrywound and presses his own hands down to it in an attempt to stop the bleeding,but the blood gushes out through his fingers in a slow trickle down over hisfingerless gloves and down his wrists. He shutters thinking about having toscrub it off later, regardless of the outcome. He quickly calculates thatDick’s probably lost about two pints of blood so far, which explains whybeneath his fingers Dick starts to shiver violently, probably slipping intoshock. “Hey,” Jason chides, shaking his shoulder a bit. “Keep your eyes open,Nightwing.”

Dick does as he’s told, but his eyes are glossy and distant,staring upwards past him like something – maybe his life, maybe not – isflashing before his eyes. They seem to be moving in a sweeping motion up anddown, and Jason wonders briefly if he’s having a blood loss-induced vision ofthe night his parents died, something he only knows the vague details of.

Soon, maybe in three, five minutes, Dick will faint, andsoon after that he’ll be dead, leaving Jason with very few options except toact quickly and hazardously. He swears and pats Dick down, trying to find anyof Bruce’s fancy tech that could ignite a flame. He comes up short, cursingDick for having decided to run light tonight.

It’s a huge gamble, but he figures he could out-wit the kidwith the bomb. The only problem is the hostage. He’ll have to be fast enough,take out the kid efficiently without the girl with long black hair gettingcaught in the crossfire. She doesn’t even look twelve. Then again, the kiddoesn’t even look eighteen. If there’s an option to put him down withoutkilling him, Jason would take it without question. He often saw them – young,ignorant juveniles with fear in their eyes – and thought of himself beforeBruce had plucked him off the streets only to put him back out onto them as aweapon.

He needs a gun, though. One of his automatic hand guns, sohe could fire a few rounds into the ceiling and get the barrel hot enough toclose the wound. He’s never done it before… but in theory, it should work. Shockingly,this isn’t something learned from the League of Shadows, but rather the Bathimself. Bruce had taught him a lot of fucked up ways to save a life; ways toclose a wound, ways to get a heart up and started again, ways to reverse theeffects of arsenic poisoning. All things cute little boy wonder Jason hadlistened to eagerly while hoping never to use.

“This might not end well,” Jason mutters to him beforestanding again and slowly turning toward the kid.

“Listen.” He takes a step forward, eyeing his guns layingstrewn on the clean tile. “We need to work something out here. Why don’t youjust give this up and walk out of that door, alive, with your hands up? Thepigs will treat you much better than I will, or whatever bomb you’ve riggedback there. You have a choice, right now, to live. Are you gonna take it?”

Silence. The kid looks like he wants to collapse and cry,his eyes scrunched up and wet. Jason takes another small step forward, one thatputs his toe right up against the butt of one of his guns. The kid flincheshugely and lets go of the girl, pointing his gun at Jason.

“Don’t FUCKING move!” he screams. Jason puts his hands backup in the air, watching as the girl scrambles to safety over to her parents,who envelop her in their arms and sob.

“I’m not. Relax.”

“Move and this place goes sky-high.”

“I’m not moving,kid. Breathe. Set down the trigger, and the gun, and walk away. It’s thatsimple.”

He hopes that behind him, Dick’s still conscious and eatingall this mercy shit up.

But then that just reminds him of Dick. Dick’s dying, anymoment now. He doesn’t have time forthis.

He gives the kid five seconds to make up his mind. Five. He considers it generous.

After quietly counting in his head, Jason moves. He lurchesforward, tipping the gun up with his foot to get a good handle of it and surgesforward, aiming for his head.

In the same second that he squeezes the trigger, the kidsqueezes the button. Jason sees it, the smallest of movements, and he canalmost feel whatever’s in the vault cometo life. When the kid falls, dead, Jason stays perfectly still, waiting for theexplosion, waiting for the all-too-similar searing pain of fire tearing throughflesh and bone, tossing him through the air like he weighs nothing. The fear hewas holding back, pressing below his diaphragm for Dick, rushes up in a floodand makes him dizzy, makes his vision swim. His helmet suddenly feels like it’ssqueezing, closing in on him, and everything’s too hot and too close.

He falls to his knees, dropping his gun to clutch at hishelmet and scream, his throat closing and his heart pounding so hard it feelslike it might burst out of his ribcage to wreak havoc on his other organs. Fora fraction of a second he’s thereagain, bleeding out, watching the electric glow of the timer numbers as theyburn his retinas. But then, there was peace. He accepted it, he let it happen. Thereisn’t peace now. No, now he knows what it feels like to have every bone in yourbody broken, all of your skin charred and peeling off the muscle. He knows whatit’s like to die, to know you’redying, to feel it happen…

Not again. Not fuckingagain.

But the pain never comes. Jason glances up, glances at allthe hostages staring at him, waiting for some kind of cue.

It makes no sense. Werethey lying? No, he wouldn’t have bothered to press the button. And Jason heard it, the hum of circuits coming tolife. He felt the way the air stills before it gets assaulted with energy andfire.

It dawns on him then that they’re likely hanging in adelicate balance of the bomb having been triggered but not detonated. It’s afluke, a glitch, and it could go off at anyminute.

The panic comes back, but this time it has determination tofight with.

Any movement, any vibration of the floor, could detonate theexplosives. The bomb’s both lit and unlit. He’s sitting right the fuck insideof Schrödinger’s Bank.

“No one move,” he says after he’s sure his voice will work. It’s hoarse, and he still feels like he’sfighting his own throat to stay open, but it comes out in a serious enough tonethat the group of hostages, who were starting to get restless to find a way tothe exit, stop dead in their tracks. “The bomb didn’t go off, but that doesn’tmean it won’t.” His mind is swimming. All he wants to do is get the fuck out of there, get Dick the fuck out of there, but he’sstill Batman’s son, no matter how hard he tries not to be. To be better.

He looks back at Dick to find him still awake, watching himwith bleary eyes. There’s some sort of sealed sticker over his wound –something Jason assumes is one of Bruce’s gadgets – and it seems to be haltingthe bleeding. He must’ve gotten Babs on the comm to ask what to do. She alwaysknows what to do.

With Dick stable, he has to find a way to get everyone elseout alive.

“We have a better chance of survival if we go out in pairs.Two bye two, children first. Crawlcarefully toward the exit, on your knees and forearms, sliding. Tell the copswhat’s happening, see if they can get the bomb squad here as fast as they can.”He’s shocked at how calm he sounds compared to what he’s feeling, the way hismind’s reeling and his body feels like it’s shutting down from panic.

He watches as they organize themselves, sending out the girlwith long black hair and a kid that looks like her little brother, obviouslythe youngest in the group. They carefully slide along, but their shufflingbecomes a bit frantic.

“Slower,” he tells them, gesturing to them with his palmdown, “gently.  Like you’re on ice.”

They follow his instructions, sliding gingerly across thetile. Jason thanks the stars that it isn’t hardwood. Eventually, they breakthrough the front door slowly. Against the flood of headlines and neon red andblue, he makes out the outline of three cops rushing forward to collect them.

Two down, nine to go.

“Nightwing,” Jason calls behind him without turning hishead, “how’re you doing?”

“I’m fine, Hood,” is Dick’s reply. “A bit woozy, but I’mfine.” He pauses, drawing in a wheezy breath that makes Jason nervous again.“So do you think it’s gonna blow?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Seriously.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I doknow. It’ll go off unless it’s diffused. Which I’m sure I can do, but it’svolatile. Any vibration, any movement, hell, a light breeze could set that thing off. When I set foot in there I need toknow everyone’s out. Including you.”

He glances back again, Dick looking at him with some kind ofshadow over his eyes, his lips pressed into a hard line.

“Jay- Hood. Youneed to get out of this too. There’s no sacrificing yourself this time, okay?You’re not getting blown up again. I won’t allow it. B won’t allow it.”

Jason shutters but lets out a small bark of laughter.

“Shut up. You’re down, I’m fine, I’m going to figure thisout. I’d rather not get blown up again either.”

“I’d have liked not to have gotten shot again, but sometimesthings don’t work out the way we want them to. You get out after them, I’llstay and try and diffuse the bomb.”

“I should shoot you again for even suggesting that,” Jasonall but snarls, feeling his fists clench up by his sides.

     He turns his attention back to the hostages, now in theirfinal stages of escape. A middle-aged woman helps an elderly man shuffle hisway across the floor on his stomach. And then, and then, they’re out. And then it’s just Dick, him, and the bodies hemade.

“Go,” Dick urges and Jason turns on him, risking themovement, just to glare venomously.

God, Jason thinks,why does he have to be such a martyr?Jason’s over the sacrifice bullshit. If it meant saving Dick’s life, fine. Butjust because he isn’t afraid of death anymore doesn’t mean he isn’t afraid of dying, no matter how much he’d like todeny or deflect. He realizes then that no, this bomb’s not worth diffusing. Thebomb’s not worth his life. He grins.

“Shut the fuck up,Grayson. You’re gonna live another day to listen to that stupid fucking pop music you love so much, eata thousand pieces of pizza and never gain a goddamn pound, and make Bats so, so proud. And I’m gonna live another dayto torment you for all of it.”

The corner of Dick’s lip quirks as he lifts his head, hiseyes so tired but brimming with somerenewed sense of hope.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Jason slides carefullydown to his stomach, slithering across the tile slowly. Dick lets out a weaklaugh.

“How are you gonna get me out, then? Am I gonna ride on yourback like a giant snake with a saddle or something?”

“Where the hell do you think of these things, Grayson?”Jason can’t help but laugh as well. “You’re gonna lay down on top of me andwe’re both gonna slither out of her like a fucking snake, okay?”

Dick looks down at him dubiously when he reaches him, butJason simply gives him a wicked smile.

“Climb aboard, circus boy.”

Dick snorts.

“I’m so never gonna let you live this down, Jaybird.”

The nickname warms Jason from somewhere inside of him hedidn’t know existed anymore. Dick whimpers a bit as he bends over, his bodypressing down into Jason’s back. He starts sliding.

Then he hears it: the tinny, obnoxious beeping of a timerset to go off from somewhere behind them. The glitch fixed itself.

No.

He dumps Dick off of him, who rolls to the ground with asurprised oof and a wince, beforestanding and lifting him, sprinting as fast as his legs will take them withtheir combined weight bearing down. And damn,Dick is lean as hell but he’s all muscle. It’s like carrying the concretelikeness of a normal person, but allhe concentrates on his his feet hitting the tiles at a decent pace, carryingthem forward.

They make it to the door, and for a beat Jason smells thefresh air and hears the screeching sirens and the cops yelling at them before awave of hot air and fire propels them forward violently, and Jason has a momentto think about how he might have made it out on the right side of the explosionthis time before everything goes black.

  **

 “Drake, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but staringintently at him will not wake him up.”

“Shut up, Damian. I’m trying to detect eye movement. Ithought I saw his eyes twitching, meaning he’s entering REM sleep, meaning heshould be awake soon.”

“Whatever.  I am goingto go make sure Grayson’s not in an indecent amount of pain.”

Jason feels the bed shift from under him, meaning thatlittle shit was sitting on his bed.Unusual behavior, at best. Suspicious behavior at worst. The room falls quietagain.

“Jay,” Tim says softly. “I know you’re awake. Yourbreathing’s changed.”

“You do make it your business to know everything,” Jasonsighs, opening his eyes blearily. He half expects to see the sterile whiteceilings of a hospital, but is instead met with the Green Day poster he oncepinned to his ceiling in his Wayne Manor bedroom. Fuck.

“Twerp.” Jason attempts to sit and winces. Broken ribs. Wonderful.“What the hell am I doing here?”

“Bruce insisted you come here so he and Alfred could lookafter you.”

Jason resists the urge to roll his eyes so hard he snaps hisown neck.

“How’s Dick?”

Tim chuckles.

“Awake, raising hell, trying to do things to the point whereBruce has the physically restrain him… the usual.”

[melyaliz]

Loved ones pt. 2

Summary: Collin struggling to be a Dad and Britney is struggling to NOT fall in love with his small family.

Parts

Follow up to this amazing story

Pairing: Collin x Britney 

Notes: Co-written by @royslittleharper  which is why I love it so much. I also split it up into two parts because it was getting long so I figured why not. 

Tagging: @guns-n-lilies  @the-shadow-of-atlantis  @coffee-randomness  @daisyboobear @werewitchling  @nightwing-rules

“He’s so beautiful” Britney cooed as she sat on the floor in front of Hank as he bounced in his baby rocker. The small boy was laughing as she used Collin’s old stuffed Lighting Mcqueen doll to tickle the baby’s stomach while making car noises.

“He’s a spitting image of me you know,” Collin said from the kitchen where he was cooking while quizzing Britney for her finals. Yes, he was a man of many talents. Some could say he even had GOD like abilities. Although one of those people wasn’t the girl playing with his son. Yet anyway.

“Huh, you could never tell,” she said gently running her fingers through the baby’s red curls. “I think he may take after Uncle Eric…”

“What! He has my eyes and… oh” Collin paused as Britney watched him a sly smile on her face.

“You are much better looking than your parents,” Britney sang to Hank who just smiled up at her, “Who knows where you came from.”

“Oh shut up.” Collin mumbled flipping the page of her textbook, “Are you ready for more questions or are we going to argue about my son’s looks?”

“Daddy doesn’t think you’re pretty but I do.”

“I didn’t say that!”

  Finals were upon her and Britney was so busy taking tests and writing papers she barely saw Collin or Hank. Hardly eating and locking herself in the bathroom so she could study just a little more. Collin had never seen her like this, so nervous.

“This is my sophomore year,” she told him coming up for air and a smile from Hank who instantly reached out for her as she came into the kitchen. “I have to get good grades so I can take the classes I want next year. Or maybe I’ll transfer? Or try and skip a few general classes so I can finish quicker?” she was talking so fast as she bounced Hank up and down. The small baby just watching her with wide eyes as if unsure who this person was holding him. Because it sure wasn’t his Britney. Collin watched her feeling the same way his small son did.

“Woah easy, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he said gently prying Hank away from the frazzled girl. “How about you take a quick nap and I’ll get dinner ready.”

“No… I shouldn’t probably… uhhh” she paused blinking at the bathroom where a stack of books sat, “What was I going to do?” she asked turning to Collin who couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ll wake you in an hour, now go,” he said pushing her toward the bedroom. As he watched her grumbled to herself slowly walking into the bedroom. An idea slowly forming in the single dad’s brain.

Picking up his phone he shot off a text to his dad “could you babysit tomorrow night?”

“YES PLEASE!!!!!” came in instant response followed by a quick “or whatever…”  

Collin laughed the idea slowly forming into a plan as he started to make a list of what he would need.

  “YAY We will be there when you get back!” was Collin’s last text with a gif of Honey Boo Boo dancing in a pageant dress. Britny had rolled her eyes before shoving the phone back into her pocket. Some things never changed.  

However, as she entered the small apartment neither of her men were there. In fact, the apartment was way too quiet, eerily so. If Britney didn’t live the life she had she probably wouldn’t have come to the conclusion she did but… she had. She was digging out her hero costume as she quickly stripped ready to give whoever had kidnapped her family the beatdown of a lifetime.  

Collin had gotten caught in traffic on the way back from his parent’s home so he was late. And he knew it. However, the sight that greeted him wasn’t the one he had expected.

Britney was dressed in her hero costume just about to run out, she basically ran into Collin looking up at him with wide fearful eyes.

“Where’s Hank? She said looking at him as if the small child would suddenly appear.

Collin couldn’t help but laugh holding up the bottle of wine, “He’s with my parents, I thought we could celebrate.”

“What?”

“You’re finals.”

She blinked at him as if suddenly registering what he was saying, “I thought…” she took a step back her face becoming flushed. Collin couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as he knew what she was about to do. For his son. He couldn’t help but feel his heartbeat speed up at the thought of how quickly she was ready to jump to save his son. He knew she had moved in to help them both but part of his mind, the insecure side, always seemed to tell him she was only doing it because he was so helpless. But he knew, in moments like these that she truly cared for Hank.

And maybe him too.

He took a step closer to her ready to sweep her off her feet with his plan.

“Nice outfit, did you fight your final?” then his mouth got in the way.

“Shut up.” she said hitting his chest before turning back inside slowly unzipping her suit.

“Wait, uhhh what are you doing?” he asked as he stared at her.

“Oh my God Collin! Calm down, I’m just unzipping it so I can change… in the bedroom.” she added as she walked back to the bedroom they had been sharing. Suddenly she paused.

“Hey..”

“Yeah?”

“The zipper is caught in my hair I think.”

“Oh is it now?”

“Oh GOD, never mind I’ll get it,” she said slamming the door. Collin followed her as he felt the evening he had planned in his mind slipping away.

“Hey, Brit… I have wine and I bought Chicken from that place you like down the street.”

Slowly the door opened to a very adorable pouting Britney, “I’m really stuck” she mumbled avoiding his gaze, “If you say anything or break my zipper I will kill you” she added as he motioned for her to turn around.

He slowly loosened the zipper from her long brown hair before sliding it down her back. He could hear his heart beating so hard in his chest he was almost worried he could hear it too. God, she was beautiful. He had wanted her for so long. Wanted all of her.

They hadn’t done much more than kiss a few times, him always letting her lead scared she would change his mind. And scared that if he started he would never stop. Just kissing her forever until their small family starved to death.

He would never admit it but sometimes sleeping with her was hard. The apartment was only a one bedroom with a queen size bed so she would normally crash with him after a long night studying or taking care of Hank. But on those nights they both went to bed at a relatively normal hour he would just lay in bed watching her sleep wishing he could do more than just lay there. Wishing he could feeling her under him, feel every inch of her body against his. Just to run his tongue over her, know what she tasted like.

“Cool, ” she said breaking his train of thought walking back into the bedroom to change into some sweatpants and a t-shirt. Or that’s what he had thought until she came out in a cute little black dress, her dark brown which had been in a ponytail was now down falling around her shoulders in soft waves.

 “Ok let’s celebrate!” she said skipping up to the table taking a plate to serve herself some food.

Oh man, he was so fucked. Taking a deep breath he followed her trying to remind himself that this was a good thing. This was part of the plan.

Dinner was delicious and they spent their time talking about their weeks. Collin giving her updates on his family and what she missed during her fast from humanity. She told him about her tests and how she felt some she was confident about while others unsure.

After dinne, they end up moving to the couch with more wine. Slowly the conversation moved from small talk as they both let the alcohol flow.  

“This was a mistake wasn’t it?” Collin sighed as he rested his head on her shoulder.

“What was?” Britney asked him as uneasiness filled her stomach. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ready for him to admit having her there wasn’t what he wanted.

“Everything, I mean I can barely keep up with everything and It just feels like maybe I’ve done something wrong, something horrible so Hanks being punished.” Collin shook his head

“How is he being punished?” Britney asked as she tried to understand and keep up with his thoughts.

“Well I mean, I’m never ever going to be accepted by my grandparents but you heard what she said about him. He’s just a copy of her. He’s just a copy of me, but I see him as more than that. Even though I’m a screw up with no useful skills, what am I going to do?”

“You’re not…”

“You’re going to be a doctor! But me? I put all that focus on the team and that’s now practically out of my hands.” He began to slur “I can’t even have a real grandchild for my parents, their first one is ‘just a copy’ that only brings bad memories for them.”

“That’s not fair, Hank is perfect.” Her words weren’t reaching him as he continued. Now sitting looking down at his hands as if they would give him the answers he was looking for. And answer to why he seemed to be screwing everything up.

“They only tolerate him because they’re too busy for another baby of their own. They’re just trying to help me and I’m just letting them down. I keep telling them we’re too busy to visit because I don’t want them to see that I’m a failure as a father and as their child. I’m not their Hercules, I’m just their mistake and… ”

“Shut up!” he paused turning to Britney who had just shouted at the top of her lungs, her cheeks slightly rosy from the alcohol while her blue eyes blazed with anger. Once she had his attention she continued, “I don’t like you talking about the man I love that way.”

“But I’m talking about… oh” slowly his frustrations melted away as a huge grin grew on his face causing Britney to become uncomfortable as her own words sunk in. “You love me?”

“No!” Was her instant gut reaction as he moved close “I mean yes… I mean… stop smiling like that.”

“Like what”

“Like an idiot”

“I’m going to kiss you,” he said leaning forward slowly watching her, waiting for her to pull away. To his delight, she didn’t. To his pure joy, to the answer to all his dreams, she kissed him back.

There was nothing holding him back tonight. No baby, no school, no stubborn girl who wouldn’t admit what he had known all along.

They were meant to be together.

He had loved her from before he could remember. He had loved her before he even knew what love was.

And he kissed her like it.

Long and passionate.

Pulling her body to his she wrapped her legs around his waist causing him to moan into her mouth. Gently he grinded into her, testing the waters. As she followed his movements he almost came from pure excitement and the prospect of maybe more.

Then her teeth grazed his bottom lip and he was done. His resolve fading so fast he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on.

“I want to make love to you” he groaned pulling away. At his plea, her eyes grew wide as she studied him.

“I… do you have protection? because I’m on the pill and not ovulating, but mom was saying Asgardians are pretty fertile and I have 6 more years of school plus residency and I can’t get pre…” he cut her off holding up a condom.

“Now who’s spiraling?” He laughed She watched him feeling her heart beat fast in her chest. Was this really happening? Collin looked down at her, his smile slowly fading.

“You doing ok?”

She nodded, he had never seen her like this before. So unsure. Suddenly it dawned on him.

“Wait, are you still a virgin?”

“I said I wasn’t going to date in high school and… college… I tried” she mumbled.

 “You were just waiting for me huh.” there was that stupid cocky smile of his.

“I’m done,” she said the mood gone as she pulling away from him so she could move from the couch. Quickly he caught her arm stopping her. Panic filling him. He wasn’t going to lose his moment.

“No!”

She paused looking down at him.

“Come on,” he said standing up as well before gently pulling her toward the bedroom. “I’ll teach you.”

[melyaliz]

Hello

Chapters 

Jennifer is Faith’s older sister. I wasn’t really going to write much about her but then inspiration struck… yeah… sorry guys.

@speedypan ‘s fault I posted this because she should I should

tagging: @nightwing-rules @guns-n-lilies @coffee-randomness @daisyboobear

“Hello,” she said holding her hand out for Dick to shake, “Thanks for letting me stay here Uncle Bruce!” she had added over Dick’s shoulder at Bruce. She had gotten a scholarship at Gotham City College and was planning on taking up a modern anthropology. Mostly because she was only 14 and it interested her.   

The first few months of her staying were pretty uneventful. She was busy getting used to college life at the age of a high schooler. While Dick and Bruce had their “night time duties.”

It really wasn’t until there was a string of missing girls that Jennifer started to play her hand.

She wasn’t really sure why this of all the horrible news that was forever playing on the TV caught her interest. Maybe it was because the most recent girl had freckles like her younger sister or because her mother had been crying about how she was only 15, only a year older than her.

Or maybe it had been the conversation she had with Dick one Sunday morning over Pancakes.

“I bet it’s the someone she knows… someone they all know.”

“Huh?” Dick turned to her as they sat at the island in the kitchen eating their breakfast. Bruce was at some business brunch so it was just the two of them. Dick had been lost in his own thoughts while Jennifer had been watching the news.

“The kidnapper, there was no sign of a struggle and she just didn’t go to school. I bet it was like the mailman or someone”

“But if it’s related to the other kidnapped girls how who do they all know. They are from random parts of the city.”

Jennifer shrugged taking a bite of her food, “4 girls and no leads… just seems like someone they all know. Just not that well.”

“Maybe” Dick shrugged his eyes now on the TV a frown on his face.

Whatever it was Jennifer was hooked. She started doing her own research, getting every and all information. She even went to the police station and talked to an officer saying she was writing a paper for school on it. The officer was a little concerned at first because it was a rather morbid topic but she also wanted to help out a fellow young girl. Especially if Jennifer may have hinted that she wanted to be a super cool cop like the officer when she grew up while looking up at her with large blue eyes.

It took a while but she had finally compiled a huge pile of facts and information.

And there she sat, at the kitchen table just looking at it.

“My that’s a lot of papers Miss Jennifer, ” Alfred said coming in, “I didn’t realize your classes required so much research.”

Jennifer sighed laying her arm on the table pushing the stack of papers into the center of the table. “It’s not for school… it’s stuff on that case, the one with the missing girls.”

“Oh”

“You know Alfred…” She said glancing up at him, “if someone were to tell someone… like, say Batman… It may help them find the woman.”

“The woman miss?”

Jennifer stood stretching, “Just a hunch, better get to bed I have an 8 am class in the morning. Good night Alfred.”

“Good night miss”

-----

A day later they caught the kidnapper. It was a librarian at the local library that each of the girls had been too. The girls had each been kidnapped and seemed to be tested on in an abandoned clinic. One of the girls was so badly hurt that she would have died from blood loss a few days later if Batman and Robin hadn’t saved them.  

“HA!” I was right” Jennifer said as she sat on the couch next to Dick as they watched the news eating cereal. It was a Friday night and since neither of them had many friends they had decided to do a movie night. However, When Jen had seen the screen flash the news she had made Dick wait before they started their movie.

“I told you it was someone they all knew” she grinned at him. Dick rolled his eyes clicking play on the DVD.

“Yeah, lucky guess.”

“It’s all elementary, my dear Watson.”

“Sure, sure.”

“It’s a good thing Batman and Robin saved them, though.” Jennifer said glancing over at Dick before looking back at the TV. “They are really a great beacon here.”

“You think?” Dick smiled glancing at her. Jennifer nodded taking a bite of her cereal.

“I feel like they help those people that the Police can’t really. I mean take this case, one of those girls could have died.” she nodded, “They are real heroes.”

“Cool.” was all Dick said as the movie started to play. Jennifer couldn’t help but smile as she glanced at Dick who was stupidly grinning from ear to ear.

------

How do you tell someone you know their secret?

If they haven't told you that means that they don’t want you to know. The knowledge of a discovered secret is held much like guilt. You understand why they kept it from you but you also don’t know how to unknow the information. But is it really your fault that you know?  

I mean, seriously, You weren’t trying to find out. You just did.

Jennifer sighed as she looked over a few articles she had been going over. The girls she had been rather instrumental in saving had more than just the Librarian in common.

They were all from very strict parents who seemed to want them out of the limelight.

And during some of the footage it had almost looked like one of them had fangs.

Of course, Jennifer had instantly looked into Vampires and werewolves. As much as she had hoped she was now in some episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer there was something else going on.

The Librarian had just snapped. She had been a normal woman with a family, friends, a boyfriend. Then one day she had just snapped and turned on a few random girls.

Why?”

The deep web had many theories. Some were crazy and some here less crazy.

And one stuck with her.

“They are after us, the mutants. Picking us off one by one.”

She had contacted the poster, Smellygreengoo156, and they spent the good part of her night talking about many other attacks similar to the girls where random people were kidnapping people who seemed to also have powers.

She didn’t believe him, how could she? She knew mutants were more than a myth but she had always thought of them as like red haired people, very rare.

“What are you doing up?” Dick’s voice broke her concentration. Jennifer let out a slight squeak almost jumping out of her own skin.  

“I… What are YOU still doing up,were” she said, a little harder than she had meant for it to sound.

“I… went for a run?”

“At night?” her eyebrow raised, “In Gotham?”

“Just around the manor.” he shrugged as if he could just shrug away her prying eyes.

“That where you got the cut?” she asked a small smirk on her face as she glanced back at her computer screen. Dick rubbed his cheek sheepishly.

“I… hey, good night!”

“Don’t mess with me Grayson” the brunette snickered under her breath.

“What?”

“Good night” Jennifer winked.

-----

The rabbit hole that Smellygreengoo156 sent her down was a deep one. Filled with so much myth that she wasn’t sure what was real and what was fake.

But the most unbelievable part of it was Ryan.

A curly dark haired boy only 4 or 5. He lived with his mother and father in a not so safe part of Gotham. His mother homeschooled him, preferring to keep him with her at all times. Infact her hold on the boy was so strong that they only went to the park around 4 or 5 in the morning. When no one else was there.

She had only meant to observe, not get in the middle of anything. However the boy seemed to find her every time she came down to the park. He would ask her questions and tell her she smelled nice.

One day she noticed a strange mark on his arm.

“Sometimes Dad’s friend comes over,” the boy said “Mommy doesn’t like him but daddy says he’s going to fix me.”

“Fix you?”

The boy nodded, “He says I’m a freak. I don’t like him, he’s scary and makes daddy scary too.”

“Ryan, you are not a freak,” Jennifer said, “You’re a very nice boy named Ryan.” Ryan took her hand in his.

“Will you come play with me at home? I can show you my legos.”

“Maybe sometime.” Jennifer paused her eyes flickering to a few marks above the burn marks. They looked a lot like the ones on the girls. “I’ll tell you what, how about I write down my phone number and if daddy’s friend comes by and you get scared you call me and I will keep him from hurting you.”

Ryan nodded taking the small piece of paper.

“But don’t tell mommy I gave you this, don’t tell anyone,” she said, “it’s our secret.”

“I never tell anyone about you.” Ryan said looking at the paper, “You are my friend”

Jennifer hadn’t thought anything would come of it. She knew Ryan was having problems at home but she needed more evidence before she did anything. Asking a 5 year old to call you when your father was about to beat you seemed like a far grasp.

That was until her cell went off with a number she didn’t recognize.

Bruce and Dick had left from dinner saying they were going out to work on some stuff. Jennifer had decided to work on her midterm paper early.

“Hello?”

There was screaming at the other end a woman’s voice was. Glass breaking.

“Jennifer?”

“Ryan?” She was standing now, her heart racing.

“The man just left and said I was done and now daddy is really mad…” he sobbed.

“I’m coming, Ryan. Go hide and I’m coming. Go hide Ryan.”

Jennifer ran down the stairs almost tripping as she burst into the living room where Alfred was sitting drinking tea.

“Where is Bruce?”

“Miss Jennifer?”

“It’s Ryan… he needs help” why couldn’t she get her breathing under control? “I NEED BATMAN OK!”

“Miss…”

It was suddenly like a dark calm fell over her. She stood straight blue eyes hard, “Alfred, we both know my uncle is Batman, I have a boy in trouble. Take me to him now.”

Bruce wasn’t that thrilled to have Jennifer in the Batcave but didn’t breach the topic as she explained in the quickest way possible that they need to save the boy.

She had also informed her uncle that she was going. “I know him and he will be scared.”

“You may not like what you find.”

“I’m coming,” she said taking a seat in the Batcar.

Every moment it took to get them there Jennifer prayed that nothing happened. She prayed that he hadn’t taken the phone or that his father didn’t find out. She prayed he wasn’t too hurt.

She prayed with all her might.